Marquee matchup: Manning vs. Urlacher
Road to Super Bowl XLI
Super Bowls do, once in a while, follow the story lines that are beaten to death during the days leading up to the game, but they also turn around fairly often and bite the prognosticators in the butt, writes Cam Cole. So will the matchup between Brian Urlacher and Peyton Manning live up to its billing?

"Super Bowls do, once in a while, follow the story lines that are beaten to death during the days leading up to the game, but they also turn around fairly often and bite the prognosticators in the butt," writes Cam Cole. So will the matchup between Brian Urlacher and Peyton Manning live up to its billing?
Photograph by : AP Photos



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Cam Cole, CanWest News Service
Published: Saturday, February 03, 2007

MIAMIBEACH - Welcome to Media 101.

Here is how we wrap up two weeks' worth of lukewarm verbiage in a neat little bow:

Since the Indianapolis Colts' best player is the quarterback, and the Chicago Bears' best player is the middle linebacker, Super Bowl XLI is bound to come down to a clash of titans between Peyton Manning and Brian Urlacher.

We'd give you some shades of gray to go along with that oversimplification, but it makes a better story if it's not too complicated because, as the Bears' much-mocked quarterback Rex Grossman noted Thursday, reporters are really kind of ill-informed, and fans aren't much better.

"It's frustrating when you don't put much thought into it," said Grossman, after the 7,000th question about his comparitive ineptitude, next to Colts' celebrated slinger, Manning. "You're just going off the fans' reaction. You just don't know much about what we're doing on offence. Just realizing how ... you know, you know ... ignorant some of you guys are."

Yikes.

Whatever happened to "Never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel?"

He probably has a point, though.

Super Bowls do, once in a while, follow the story lines that are beaten to death during the days leading up to the game, but they also turn around fairly often and bite the prognosticators in the butt, which is how you get Hall of Famer Jim Kelly losing Super Bowls to Jeff Hostetler and Mark Rypien, and Doug Williams crushing John Elway, and the 17-point underdog New York Jets beating the invincible Baltimore Colts.

"I wouldn't be shocked at all," said Colts coach Tony Dungy, to the suggestion that the game could actually be decided by the Bears' offence versus the Colts' defence, even though the common wisdom is that it's got to be the other way around.

"You never know how it's going to go, and we're confident we can do well in any type of game - we played an all-field-goals game against Baltimore, and won it, and we had to get 30 points in the second half against New England, and won that one.

"But I think the other four units - both special teams and the Bears' offence and our defence - that's what's going to determine the game."

That may be just Dungy's way of taking pressure off Manning, though.

Let's face it: the eyes are drawn to marquee players - the TV eye, for sure - which makes it hard to look anywhere else. And they do get the credit, and the blame. And the money. So why shouldn't they decide the game?

The difficulty with Urlacher is that he is playing middle linebacker in Chicago, which immediately makes you think of Dick Butkus ripping opponents' heads off, or Mike Singletary's big-as-saucer eyes staring down the quarterback just before the snap, but Urlacher plays as much like a free safety as he does a run-stopper - and he doesn't blitz the quarterback much.

In fact, you have to look closely to see why this 6-foot-4 specimen, who's built like Goliath and runs like a gazelle, is so special. It's often not all that apparent.

"Brian Urlacher as an inside linebacker has it all," said Chicago head coach Lovie Smith. "He's one of the best superstars you'll ever have a chance to be around and you can't find anyone with more talent than him, 6-4, 255 pounds, six per cent body fat. He's a coach on the field. He is a perfect teammate.